We’ve all been there before: suddenly your friends decide they’ll go out to a darty Saturday or a party Thursday night and you have no costume picked out for the occasion. Plus, with two weekends of potential parties, you may find yourself suddenly short on costumes. No need to worry though, as I have compiled a list of easy but still fun Halloween costumes for solos, duos, or groups.
Solo Costumes
Because who has time to coordinate a group when your costume is last minute anyway?
- Firefighter, cop, etc.
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Like me, I am sure many of you hopped on the black romper/bodysuit trend (examples 1 and 2 here) sometime over the last year or so. Head over to Party City or Spirit Halloween to pick up firefighter, police, or other career-oriented accessories to pull off the look. I have used bodysuit #1 from above with a firefighter hat and a red bralette for a cute and easily recognizable look.
- Vampire
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Similarly to above, I am also sure that many of you have purchased a black or red corset top sometime over the last few years. Match it with black or red bottoms and use makeup to add bite marks on your neck to achieve one of the easiest costumes there is. With the decline in popularity of classic costumes over the last few years, vampires are less overdone than usual and as hot as ever! Bonus points if you can find fangs at a store.
- Miss Congeniality
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Based on the beloved 2000 film staring Sandra Bullock, bring out your inner pageant girl. Put on a dress that you already have in your closet, a tiara (which I also have many of in my closet), a leg holster (which they sell for cheap at costume stores), and a DIY sash. Niche, recognizable, cheap, and adorable!
- Tinkerbell
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Let’s be honest, wings at a party or bar is a no-go anyway, so all you need for this costume is a green dress and some blonde hair. Wear a bun to really commit to the costume with minimal effort involved.
- Mummy
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Another one that truly only requires things you have around your dorm/apartment/house. Wear a white dress or matching set and attach some toilet paper to it (or even just tuck it in around the sides if you’re really that low on supplies). In my opinion, mummies are such an underrated classic costume that not nearly enough people are wearing anyway.
- (space) cowgirl
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I can’t name a single friend of mine who doesn’t have a cowboy hat or boots. Pair one of both of these accessories with western-ish clothes in your closet like denim, flannel, or gingham. If you really want to get creative, use futuristic colors and textures to be a space cowgirl. This costume used to be super popular a few years ago, but has had a recent decline in popularity, making it a little more unique for your wearing this year.
Couples/duos
For you and your boo or bestie.
- aTHLETE + Trophy
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One of you wears a jersey and the other wears a silver/gold dress that matches the respective trophy. For example, an NHL hockey jersey with a silver Stanley cup.
- Firefighter + dalmation
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One person wears an all black outfit with a firefighter hat, the other draws some black spots on a white shirt or dress.
- Taylor swift + travis Kelce
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If you or the person you know is a Kansas City Chiefs fan (or knows someone who is and would be willing to lend their merch), this one is also pretty easy to throw together. Have one person wear Chiefs gear and pretend to be Travis, and another dress up as Taylor! With so many different colors, styles, and aesthetics captured by her many different eras, it is likely you have a few things in your closet to be at least one of them.
- White and black swan
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To be honest, applause to any girl who can get their man to participate in this one, because this is definitely more on the feminine side. Just like with Tinkerbell from above, it’s not like you can fit a pair of wings into a frat party anyway, so just skip them! One of you wears all black, the other wears all white. Get creative with your hair and makeup to really sell the swan look.
- DANNY + SANDY (“gREASE”)
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While you could go all out for this costume, there is a much simpler way to go about it. All you need is two all black outfits that kind of fit their outfits in the film. Yes, it’s a bit of a stretch, but so is wearing a Shein corset and calling yourself a Disney princess anyway.
Groups
On the off-chance you somehow have the time to coordinate a last minute group.
- Holes
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A childhood staple film for everyone, dressing as characters from Holes requires minimal effort. Pretty much any costume store carries orange jumpsuits for prisoner costumes, so just roll that down with a white tank and use makeup to look like you’ve been digging all day. This costume could be especially great for a darty, as you and your 21+ besties could incorporate their gallon jugs into the look with matching borgs too.
- magic mike
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As mush as I hate to spoil my costumes, I have to admit my roommates and I are all doing this viral costume. Why? Because we are broke college students who want to have at least one costume come entirely from our closet. Use a white tank, jeans, a backwards baseball cap, and a loose tie (which you can borrow from a guy friend) to easily, but accurately, capture the look from the film. If you look up the costume on TikTok, you can be sure to find other ways to spice up the look, too (fake money in pockets, kiss marks, etc.).
- Minions
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We all grew up with the Despicable Me movies, and now we can dress as them! All you need is a yellow top and some sort of denim bottom (overalls would be the most fitting). This costume is both funny and cute, and if you get a big enough group you can seemingly take over a party (or steal the moon!).
- Teenage mutant ninja turtles
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Four friends for four turtles. All you need is a green top and a bandana matching the color of your turtle.
- (sexy) teletubbies
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This costume was the runner-up when my roommates and I were deciding on our group costume this year. Truthfully, I’ve been trying to find a group to do this costume since I was a freshman, but now that I’m a senior, it’s time to let the dream go and spread my genius idea (that is somehow slowly gaining internet popularity?) to the masses. Everyone wears a dress in the color that matches their assigned teletubby, and as a group you can use pipe cleaners from your local craft store to DIY headbands to match their design.
As you can tell, a lot of these costumes are even interchangeable between the three categories, so get creative and get excited to have a spooky (and safe) Halloweekend.